Unconventional Vases

It was such a beautiful day today I was able to play with some flowers outside. I picked up one inexpensive bouquet of alstroemeria, but if any white daisies would have been available I would have gladly snatched them up!

I'm not saying these designs are genius, but I wanted to give you some inspiration in thinking OUTSIDE the box. Vases are cool & all, but what if I wanted to plunk some flowers in my daughters pink polka-dotted rain goulashes? Or a vintage tin? Or any other odd shaped vessel that wasn't meant to hold water, such as this solo silo--its barn friend long gone.

This is what all these designs have in common: if I filled the containers with water, there would be leaks & drips & a big wet mess.

The solution is simple. Fill an appropriately sized cup with water & place it INSIDE your chosen container. A vase is born!

I even had this cute pink Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic tissue container in my cupboard. I thought it would make a nice long, low vase.

I turned it upside down. Then, I filled two shallow jars with some water & placed them inside the tissue box.

Fill with flowers & voila! No one would ever guess the container's original purpose!

But this next idea is my absolute FAVORITE!
The supplies you'll need are: wet floral foam (intended for fresh flowers), a knife, a bowl of water, your flowers (of course!) & a sweet little vintage handbag.

First you'll want to cut a piece of foam that will fit inside your purse.

Wet floral foam needs to sit in water & soak up all that liquid so your flowers will have something to drink. Follow the directions on your package for soaking the foam, but it's basically done when it has sunk to the bottom of the bowl.

Place this heavy, wet piece of foam inside a sturdy baggie.

And then carefully place the baggie inside your purse. If you're nervous about damaging your handbag you can double up on the plastic baggies. Of course, don't use your best & most cherished clutches!

Start poking your floral stems into the foam. Just a few stems of the alstroemeria did the trick for me. Random wildflowers, haphazardly arranged in vintage handbags, look the sweetest too!

I used to make & sell these handbag (& vintage shoe) arrangements using artificial flowers, so just use the same concept here, except use dry floral foam--used for dry & artificial flowers.

Oh yeah, I used to be a floral designer by the way. haha! It was pretty frustrating though because no one wanted to hire a newbie fresh out of floral design school without any experience. So, how was I supposed to GET any experience if no one was willing to GIVE me any experience? Though the fresh floral snobs wouldn't have me, I ended up getting a job working with artificial flowers at The Great Indoors in Scottsdale Arizona & it was one of my favorite jobs!

Cupcake Planter Tutorial

This is a project that I thought of last summer---when it was too hot & too late to grow anything lush & green in a pot. SO, I had to wait almost a whole year to put my idea into action!! It's a mild statement to say I'm SUPER DUPER EXCITED to finally do this!

Supplies: shorter stubby terracotta pots (I found some at Home Depot & some really cool short stubby ones at Fred Meyer), spray paint, acrylic paint, clear spray sealer, rocks (for drainage), potting soil, plants, drill (with 1/4" drill bit), 1/4" dowel (Hardware store or Walmart), saw blade, round wooden balls (hardware store). Also needed, but not pictured: wood glue, paint brush.

OK, the painting part: I used spray paint. I like a quick job. BUT, the terracotta pots are very porous & you're not going to get an even coat with the spray paint. I sprayed my pot 2 times & I like the uneven faded look of it. If you want a more even, solid covering of color, use at least 3 coats of acrylic paint or latex paint. (Got any extra exterior housepaint in the garage? Perfect!)

My pots will sit outside. They'll eventually show the effects of the weather & daily watering. Definitely paint the inside of the pot as well as the outside. This will help keep the moisture from damaging your artwork. If you keep your pot out of direct weather elements this will help it to keep cuter for longer too. Paint your dowels also. I painted mine with brown acrylic paint so it would remain inconspicuous in the pot-o-flowers. You'll be trimming the dowel to the correct size later. And finally, paint the round wooden balls red. I spray painted mine. AND, I sealed them with a clear spray paint sealer.

When the "cherries" are dry, drill a hole in the bottom. Or you could do the drilling BEFORE the painting. I guess I did it backwards. Mine came with a tiny hole pre-drilled in the bottom, but it wasn't nearly big enough.

Fill the hole with wood glue & insert the dowel. Poke it in the ground to dry.
Now you can work on the details of your pot, which you'll paint with brown acrylic stripes to resemble a cupcake liner. When the stripes are dry, seal the pot--inside & out--with the clear spray paint sealer. This is probably the most important step. Without a good seal, the water could cause your paint to bubble or eventually chip & flake off. Lots of coats of paint & a good sealer are the key to keeping your terracotta pots lovely for a long time! Now, take a break & munch on an ice cream sandwich. Num...

When everything is super duper dry, (OK, I'm impatient. Mine was mostly dry), you can cover the drainage hole with a few pebbles.

And then gather the curious neighborhood kids to help you with the rest. That's what I did. Well, I guess I didn't have to "gather" them. They just came over to see what I was up to. Even one skateboardin' boy said, "I want to paint some pots & fill 'em with flowers too!"

For some reason I had trouble deciding which plants to purchase for my cupcake planters. I wanted something that could be pruned to a roundish shape. I ended up finding this really thick, really lush plant called "Lobelia" Riviera Rose (at Fred Meyer). I also picked out some white Alysum for my smaller cupcake pot. I've never "pruned" them in a specific shape before, so we'll see how it goes! After you plant your flowers, take some scissors or pruning shears & clip away any stragglers. I kinda butchered mine, but hopefully they'll continue to grow nice & thick.

At this time you can measure your plant to see how tall your cherry should be.

Ta-da! That's it! The little flowers will look like sprinkles all over the cupcake.

I'll be sure & take pictures as flowers bloom & the pot fills out more.
Wasn't that fun?

dirt & stuff.

What got into me yesterday? I turned into Super Garden Girl. I really, really, really, really love being outside with my pots & soil & mini shovel & cute garden gloves. But most of the time the stuff I attempt to grow ends up....not growing. The girls & I had so much fun making our yard all cute!

But this is my NOT favorite part. If someone ELSE could clean up the mess, that would great!

I went SO berzerko in the yard that I was ALREADY sore before I sat down to eat dinner.
I potted petunias, pansies & alysum in pots out front... I finally got a plant to put in the most awesomely bright purple planter I spray-painted a few weeks ago... I cleaned up the rest of last Fall's leaves (hee hee)... I noticed some scalloped brick border laying haphazardly in our yard, that's been there since we moved in 14 months ago. (Musta been on our landlord 'to-do' list prior to our arrival.) SO, I "installed" it in-between my neighbor & my duplex.

I paused to take photos of all the worms & other creepy crawlies that my girls & the neighbor kids were collecting. Ew.
I repotted 3 African Violets that I received as a present a few years ago from my grandmother. They were part of the flowers at my grandpa's funeral &, miraculously, I've kept them green & growing. They haven't been repotted since I got them & I'm nervous about their transplant. Hopefully they will survive. I even took a toothbrush & cleaned the dirt off all their leaves. Those little hairy leaves attract everything!
And finally, the girls & I went on a treasure hunt of sorts. Remember those sunflower seeds we planted a few weeks ago? Well, I never marked where we planted them. We were on an urgent mission to find the sprouts before daddy mowed over them on his next lawn adventure. We spotted several, but not all of them. THIS time we marked them with bright pom-poms glued on toothpicks. I'm so proud of us! The seeds are growing!!!

After a yummy BBQ grilled dinner I relaxed with my feet up on the couch while watching Season 3 of 'The Office' & crafting.

I'm afraid to wake up & feel the pain...

Have a happy weekend!